dizzygradespells

[dizzygradespells]

I finally got to bake for the first time in ages! My condition makes cooking really hard. But I felt good enough to make banana bread~

I also forgot baking makes your place smell like whatever you are baking and now I have to sit in delicious torture.

[dizzygradespells]

Is anyone else still bothered by the fact that Link loses his prosthetic at the end of Tears of The Kingdom?

Cus I am.

[dizzygradespells]

Star Sign Accessibility Review

Star Sign is what happens when you combine a cute little round star child with Spiderman and Sonic before yeeting them over an endless void. It's a fast paced 3D platformer that demands skill and quick reflexes as you swing from floating platform to outstretched roots before jumping into a whirlwind that'll send you hurtling across the stage! All the while beautiful chill music sets the scene and perfectly matches the soft visual design and lovely landscape. For a first time developer, Joel came out swinging! I had a lot of fun with my time in Star Sign. While by no means a perfect game, every time I jump into the world I end up smiling. The game has a lot of enjoyable little mechanics and even hidden challenges that let you level up your character's abilities, allowing you to go even faster! Speed really is the name of the game. Along with cheese. While the levels have a clear intended path, the open level design allows master swingers to carve their own way through. This game absolutely screams speedrunner material.

When it comes to accessibility, the biggest hurdle is easily the high skill ceiling and requirement for fast reflexes. It's a lot like Celeste in that regard. Unfortunately, unlike Celeste, there isn't much available to help disabled players. If you can't move the cursor fast enough, you are SOL. That being said, it's not completely bereft of accessibility. The game allows you to fully customize controller or mouse sensitivities on both the x and y axes (as well as offering separate inverted controls for both axes). It also gives you the choice between mouse & keyboard or a controller. Both of which are fully remappable! In addition, Star Sign allows you to hide the HUD, change your resolution, customize your anti aliasing, change your render scale, increase or decrease your field of view, and alter your brightness. Plus it separates master volume and music volume so you can customize the sound to your liking. Visually, the game is a treat. All font text is large and dyslexic friendly. Often times text is white or yellow on a black background. Unfortunately, this is where the accessibility ends. Those that have difficulty with blues will seriously struggle with later levels in this game. There are no options to increase or decrease text size. Nor does the game offer screen readers or closed captions. It doesn't have voice acting, but there are some sound cues. Star Sign uses a checkpoint system for levels, but they can be fairly unforgiving at times. You can easily get stuck in a single portion of the level for a while.

Finally, if you suffer from a lot of stress or anxiety, Star Sign may not be the game for you. Like many games in its genre, you will die a LOT in Star Sign. It's all about trial and error. The payoff at the end of the level is excellent, but the inherent stress of dying over and over again can be hard for those who already struggle with outside sources of stress. Overall, Star Sign is a wonderful little game that is brought down slightly by somewhat finicky controls, only a few accessibility options, and unforgiving checkpoints. That being said, I highly recommend it to speedrunners and those that love tough platforming challenges. The game is currently available on Steam for $9.99 USD. It's well worth the price! Thank you to Joel Obrist for a review copy. I had a lot of fun screaming my way through your game.

[dizzygradespells]

I always try to add Alt text whenever possible. If not, I will either add it to the body of the post or in the next post if there isn't room. But I'm glad to see that Alt text is so widely used. However, this does let me know that I should consider adding IDs on the post beneath as it is clearly useful and preferred by a subset of the community. Options are accessibility!

People in this demographic, please let me know how to tag to get a hold of you as someone who doesn't need Image Descriptions!!

[dizzygradespells]

VIDEOVERSE Accessibility Review

VIDEOVERSE by Kinmoku is a real blast from the past. Anyone who was in the online forum community from the late 90's to the early 2000's will instantly recognize this particular era of the internet. Even those of us who weren't, like myself, can still find a lot of love and nostalgia. The game is filled to the brim with references and doggo cameos! Like many visual novels, the gameplay is simplistic and easy to understand. It tells a story about online communities, both the good and the bad. The main art style looks like old-school internet pages with a simple and clean UI. Not only that, it features some fantastic animated cutscenes for a fake rpg game and animation for online video chat segments! Clearly, this is a game made with love. When it comes to accessibility, VIDEOVERSE hits the three single most important accessible features a game in this genre requires: easy-to-see visuals (high contrast between backgrounds and text), a screen reader, and the ability to change to a dyslexic-friendly font. It also has a full content warning list. The list shows every applicable content warning via broad label, but you can click on each warning to see details. These details do contain spoilers, but it's nice to see that it lets you pick.

That's the key to accessibility: the more options you have, the more accessible it is.

VIDEOVERSE's accessibility doesn't end there. The game offers subtitles for sound effects, separate volume controls (sound, music, and voice), and the ability to type your replies instead of selecting them from a list. It even gives you several different "themes" from the start so that you can pick and choose which visuals are best for you. VIDEOVERSE isn't perfect though. It falls short in a few areas. The biggest issue is with flashing graphics. One of the fake internet ads is a fairly large box that flashes every time it runs. There's no way to turn this off or avoid the ad. It's rng if the ad will pop up. But seeing as there are only a handful of these fake internet ads for the game to choose from, you WILL see it. The desk pause screen also has a subtler flash in the background, but it's large enough that it bothered me. Finally, the ending segment has a full-screen glitch effect that includes flashing. It's a shame I can't turn these off or select altered versions of the effects. Other accessibility features I'd like to see is the ability to make a custom theme from the get go. It doesn't need to be anything in-depth, but the ability to choose which background and text colors work best for the player would be golden. I'd love to see a UI adjuster as well. Though the font is by no means small, some people have smaller screens or struggle to see and require larger fonts. Another place VIDEOVERSE falls short is controls. While the controls are simple and it does have two different options for controls, I'd like to see custom keybinding. This way players can adjust as needed to specialty controllers or simply more comfortable mapping. At the end of the day, I've enjoyed my time with VIDEOVERSE. It's a cute, well-crafted game that clearly had a lot of love put into it. If you're a fan of retro games and visual novels, this one will be a delight. The accessibility options are a great start, though I'd like to see a couple extra features or some currently implemented options in a more in-depth way.

VIDEOVERSE is available on Steam and Itch.io for PC, Mac, and Linux. It currently costs $12.99, €12,79, and £10.99. Thank you, Kinmoku for providing me with a review copy!

[dizzygradespells]

Not adding a feature is a HUGE deal. It's not just about helping those with sensitivities (though it is important to avoid causing unnecessary pain). It can literally save someone's life! And no, I'm not being hyperbolic. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, 2.7 million Americans are photosensitive epileptics. That means a flashing gif can literally kill them. And that's JUST in America. Tumblr is used worldwide. While the ability to filter through tags is a wonderful feature (one it only just learned about thanks to this post) the users shouldn't be the ones to shoulder this responsibility. Not only does this rely on the original poster to be cognizant enough about this issue to tag in the first place, but it also relies on the affected to know how to filter tags and what tags to filter as there is no standardization. Not only is this irresponsible of Tumblr, it's dangerous. And yes, other platforms that don't add the ability to filter flashing images or videos ALSO deserve this same criticism.

if you think tumblr not adding a flash warning feature isnt a big deal because they already have tag filtering here is a list of all the tags i have to manually filter whenever i make a new account

cw eye strain

cw: eye strain

cw:eye strain

eye strain cw

tw eye strain

tw: eye strain

tw:eye strain

eye strain tw

eye strain

cw eyestrain

cw: eyestrain

cw:eyestrain

eyestrain cw

tw eyestrain

tw: eyestrain

tw:eyestrain

eyestrain tw

eyestrain

cw flashing

cw: flashing

cw:flashing

flashing cw

tw flashing

tw: flashing

tw:flashing

flashing tw

flashing

cw flashing lights

cw: flashing lights

cw:flashing lights

tw flashing lights

tw: flashing lights

tw:flashing lights

flashing lights

flash warning

warning flash

cw flashing images

cw: flashing images

cw:flashing images

flashing images cw

tw flashing images

tw: flashing images

tw:flashing images

flashing images tw

flashing images

cw flashing image

cw: flashing image

cw:flashing image

flashing image cw

tw flashing image

tw: flashing image

tw:flashing image

flashing image tw

flashing image

cw flashing gif

cw: flashing gif

cw:flashing gif

flashing gif cw

tw flashing gif

tw: flashing gif

tw:flashing gif

flashing gif tw

cw flashing gifs

cw: flashing gifs

cw:flashing gifs

flashing gifs cw

tw flashing gifs

tw: flashing gifs

tw:flashing gifs

flashing gifs tw

flashing gifs

but no its my fault for making a big deal of it!

[dizzygradespells]

Promised Tasks and Low Energy Days

Low-energy days suck for a lot of reasons. They don't feel good. There's this bone-crushing exhaustion where even the simple act of getting out of bed feels like a mountainous hurdle. Thinking is hard. You typically have a pile of things you need to do. Vacuuming. Gardening. Work. Dishes. Eating. But the worst part is when you really, really want to do some of those things and you just can't. The problem becomes compounded when you have multiple low-energy days in a row. It's frustrating and demoralizing. I try to remind myself of the small victories. I made breakfast. I scheduled one appointment. I got those screenshots I promised to take. They're not the most important things I needed to do. But they are what I had the energy for and now I don't need to do them. Most importantly, I did my promised task. Back when I first got sick, I made a promise to myself. No matter how bad I felt or how little energy I had, I'd always get dressed. It didn't matter if I immediately crawled back into bed and did literally nothing else that day. So long as I get dressed my day is a success.

[dizzygradespells]

Accessible Loading Zones Are NOT Parking Spots!

Don't park in the accessible loading zones. I can't believe I have to say this. But I see it so often! Or people parked halfway into the loading zone. Those spots need to be CLEAR for a multitude of reasons. People with wheelchairs, canes, walkers, and rollators need the ramp in the loading zone to get up to the sidewalk. Some cars have wheelchair lifts that require the loading zone space to load and unload their passengers. Other people with limited mobility need it so they can safely get out of the car. It's not a convenient spot to park when a lot is full. Be kind and considerate of the people around you and keep the blue square clear.

[dizzygradespells]

Accessibility and Airplanes

Traveling sucks. Period. But Traveling Disabled is a whole new ballgame. Despite requesting a wheelchair ahead of time on both flights (to and from our destination), there was only ONE wheelchair readily available for me. There were no wheelchairs available to the planes. We had to request a wheelchair to get off one of the planes and that took about 15-20 minutes to get. The only time I had a wheelchair waiting for me was getting off the second flight. Other issues I encountered were no handicap-accessible lines through security, someone making fun of me for the things I needed to safely get through the flight, and only a single cane available for those who need help getting through the security scanner. On the upside, the flight attendants were accommodating at least. But most of my needs I can handle myself. I know what I experienced is only the tip of the iceberg. Remember, 1.3 BILLION people are disabled. That's 1/6 people. More than that, most people will experience disability (either temporary or permanent) in their lifetime. Accessibility is important!

[dizzygradespells]

Writing Hot Take: Literary narrators are the most common form of self-insert characters.

[dizzygradespells]

T-minus 7 hours till my trip!

As a reminder, there will be no streams this week and probably next as well.

Anyone got any movie recommendations for the plane? I want to put a movie on my phone to watch while I'm traveling.

[dizzygradespells]

I got new shoes and sandals!! As someone who is chronically dizzy and struggles with balance, a good pair of shoes with proper support and large treads is crucial. I need the extra help to stay balanced. It's funny how I never considered these factors before I became disabled. Disability changed my life in a lot of large and obvious ways. But it also affects my life in smaller ways. Like which movies I can watch or what shoes I can buy. Add in the fact that my feet are unusually wide and it makes finding proper shoes even harder. This is where online shopping comes in. Because as much as I hate the idea of using online stores, they've benefitted me from an accessibility standpoint. Normally, stores only stock one or two pairs in my size. I don't get a choice in color. But this time I actually got to choose! It was so exciting! TL;DR I got new shoes and they are very colorful~

[dizzygradespells]

...is making an entire 80-slide PowerPoint about the thing you like just for funsies indicative of a special interest or is that not a thing people do?

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One of the things I don't ever hear talked about with epilepsy is that sometimes epilepsy is like sneezing. Sometimes, I can feel it building. But the worst part is when it stalls. My body WANTS to have a seizure, but the medication is holding it back. Which, for the record, is a good thing. But MAN is it uncomfy. The feeling is nearly impossible to describe, but it's sort of like a buzzing of electricity or ants under my skin. This tension in the back of my neck, like a spring getting wound tighter and tighter with no sign of release. A phantom pain that I can't quite tell if it's there or not but if it is it rests deep in my bones, lingering. But most of all, there's this deep-seated feeling of WRONG. Like an alarm bell is going off in my head telling me that something bad is going on inside. When doctors ask me to describe it, it's the wrong that rings the loudest and the first thing I bring up. Cus I know how my body's SUPPOSED to feel and it's not this. TL;DR I'm very uncomfy right now XD

[dizzygradespells]

Why did I pick such a long name?!?! Okay. Music tag name where you spell out your user name with songs.

D- Dawn of The Third Day by Natewantstobattle I- I'm A Hex Girl by The Hex Girls Z- Zenzenzense by RADWIMPS Z- Zero To Hero by Jonathan Young Y- Your Reality by Dan Salvato G- Good To Be Alive by CG5 R- Rime Epic Rap by Dan Bull A- Always With Me by Yumi Kimura

D- Dearly Beloved by Yoko Shimomura E- The Evil King by Natewantstobattle S- Simple and Clean by Hikaru Utada P- Presente by Gloria Estefan E- Every Time You Look Around by Miracle of Sound L- The Last Guardian by Dan Bull L- Life of a Bar by Cami-Cat S- Same Old Forest by Natewantstobattle Oof. Done. Okay. Uhh... I follow like three people and one is the one who tagged me so Tags: @swiftbell @retro-byte-vt

Ooo how abt a music tag game? Spell out your user name with songs!

D - Davy Jones, Hans Zimmer

Y - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', Righteous Brothers

N - Nueva York Train Chase, Daniel Pemberton

A - Apocalypse, Cigarettes After Sex

C - Caroline, Colter Wall

A - A Gift of a Thistle, James Horner

T - Tell Em, Cochise + $NOT

S - Suffer With Me, líue

@kittyacelia @epickiya722 @afterhourswjay and anyone else who wants to join! No pressure!

[dizzygradespells]

I love AO3. Hopefully, they get things back up and running soon!

What's happening to AO3 right now?

As you may have noticed already, Archive of Our Own is currently down. This is temporary, but unfortunately.. we now know that this is much deeper than we thought.

AO3 is currently the victim of a DDOS attack orchestrated by "Anonymous Sudan"

Why? Because AO3 is home to thousands of LGBTQIA+ content and lots of NSFW content. They're doing this as an Anti-LGBTQ+ attack. If they're doing this for or from America specifically, we're not sure. But this is what AO3 is facing at this time.

What can we do?

Spread the word. Spread the fucking word. I'll be providing updates to my Tumblr page directly from the r/AO3 subreddit. I know that not everyone here is comfortable using Reddit, so I'm taking the blow for you. I cannot access Twitter though.

And please, whatever you do...

Stop using the Archive of Our Own website at this time.

The moderators, showrunners, and service providers all need to repair the damage done by this group. The amount of data flooding in from people trying to log in will cause more problems. Keep yourselves off of the website.

Edit:

Confirmation for those who need it:

[dizzygradespells]

I'll be honest here. I don't actually know how to use tumblr. So there are gonna be growing pains and lots of very awkward posts. But hey, it's a learning curve, right? So here's me, stumbling my way into this wide strange world like a newborn giraffe with dreams of not knocking my knees together with every step.